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Drexel Rests, Readies For CAA Tournament

PHILADELPHIA (CBS) — It’s been quite a ride for the Drexel Dragons this college basketball season. They sit at 25-5 with the regular season now in the rear view mirror. They have won 17 games in a row, beat every CAA opponent at least once, and finished undefeated (13-0) at home at the DAC. They also are now receiving votes in both Top 25 polls.

However, that has all simply set the table for what’s still on tap. The Dragons are the #1 seed for the upcoming CAA Tournament down in Richmond, and while one would hope their resume if already strong enough to make an NCAA Tournament birth a reality, Drexel can eliminate any mystery by winning their next three games to capture the league’s title and automatic birth.

As the #1 seed, Drexel has earned a first round bye – they will play the winner of #8 James Madison and #9 UNC-Wilmington in the quarterfinals on Saturday afternoon at noon in Richmond. Dragons head coach Bruiser Flint says getting the extra day of rest is huge.

“Nobody in the history of the conference has ever won four games to win the championship. Now you only get three games, so the bye is big in our conference. Physically and also mentally, knowing that you don’t have to do it four times in four days.”

So how does Flint prepare his team this week, without knowing which team they will play in the quarterfinals?

“The coaches are the ones who get more prepared for it, I think as a team you try to work on some of the things that you need to work on as a team yourself. So the next couple of days is more about you than it is the opponent, because you don’t know the opponent. I think you overload the kids a little bit too much when you try and prepare for two people, two teams. The preparing is much more for the coaches, knowing we better have things right in what we’re going to do, because we are going to have a short time in terms of preparing for whatever team that we play. Let’s get ourselves together a little bit, and do some things in practice that’s going to help us get a little better.”

The Dragons had success against both possible quarterfinal opponents. They swept two match-ups with James Madison, including a 78-61 victory at the DAC last week. Drexel also dismissed UNC-Wilmington in their lone regular season match-up, going on the road and winning by 22 in mid-January.